One of Nigeria’s providers of wireless towers, ATC Nigeria in partnership with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), plans to plant 6,000 trees across 11 states in the country.

Chief executive officer, ATCN, Soji Maurice-Diya, who stated this at a ceremonial tree planting exercise, organised by NCF at Lekki Conservation Centre in Lagos, said the exercise was part of activities to promote environmental sustainability and tackle the climate change crisis.

Maurice-Diya said their operations, which include about 9,000 towers across Nigeria create a huge impact on the environment. “We want to send the right signal and message that we do care about the environment. We care about driving the right culture and behaviour with regard to environmental issues,” he said.

He stated that the tree planting is their decision to give back to the environment saying, “We have reduced our per site consumption of diesel by 50 per cent over the past five years. Tree planting is a bit of a low-hanging fruit, especially in the area of urbanisation.

“When you look at the pace of growth, especially in cities like Lagos, it means a lot of development has eroded our trees and the environment. This year, we as a company, intend to plant 6,000 trees in 11 locations across Nigeria.”

NCF Director General, Dr Joseph Onoja, echoed his sentiments by urging individuals to be constantly conscious of the environment. “Sensitisation is a continuous action. In our country, issues of the environment are not considered a top priority. We are dependent on oil, and a lot of sectors have suffered and environmental issues are not on the front burner of people’s consciousness,” he said.

Onoja said the partnership will bring about environmental restoration. “Nigeria lost an environment the size of Lagos in the past years, and we’ve set a goal for environmental restoration from the dwindling 10 per cent to 25 per cent as recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO),” he said.

“We have trees all around us, freely providing premium and high-quality oxygen to us. We need to consider environmental conservation. We need to emphasise that our lives are closely linked to the environment; if we don’t have a healthy environment, we won’t have healthy lives,” he said.

Onoja stressed that environmental consciousness requires an ‘all hands on deck’ to be achieved. He urged the government and all stakeholders to get more involved.“Lagos State is occupied by at least 21 million people; we need to have equivalent green spaces to cater to this number of people.

“There’s a law in Lagos that says at least 25 per cent of every land should be green; how much of that law is being implemented? Real estate developers need to also get on board and see how they can also contribute,” he said.